Abstract
Introducing a basis for further development of a risk-security model, this article discusses how such a model could be applied in an analysis of the area of youth employment. The article explores certain aspects of recent youth employment policies as expressed in union policies and in the national labour law of a number of EU Member States. Special attention is paid to national labour law reforms that have been adapted in the wake of the crisis and in which youth employment is promoted through a levelling-down of the employment rights, particularly for young people. The article explores typical components of this specific kind of labour law reform, in the light of youth employment policies at the EU level, with examples from a number of Member States, and in relation to the standards set by social fundamental rights.